A Flame in Hali (71 page)

Carolin gestured to the desk at the far end of the room, heaped with scrolls. “Messengers keep coming from every corner of Darkover, even as far away as Dalereuth and the Hellers. They have all sworn to abide by the Compact, and many small kingdoms have thrown down their arms and sued their neighbors for peace.” He shook his head. “It is indeed the beginning of a new age.”

Carolin rose and went to the desk. He picked up a scroll and read it briefly. “This is perhaps the strangest news of all. Valeron has signed the Compact, but also sends word of its own tragedy. Within their small Tower, several
leronyn
were found dead, their minds apparently burned out in the conflagration.”

He looked up, brow furrowing. “One of them was our old friend, Eduin.”

“Eduin! What was he doing at Valeron?”

“The Lady’s message says only that he and a companion had arrived with a party from Kirella, one of their provinces. Perhaps he had found some useful employment there, some place in the world. He apparently concealed his name from them. Only the Lady herself suspected anything, but it was Eduin’s companion, a sort of simpleton, who revealed enough to establish his true identity.”

“I did not know Eduin was at Valeron,” Varzil said, carefully feeling his way through the tangle of truths and suspicions, “but he was part of the Hali circle. How he was able to join them over such a distance, I do not know. His talent was great; he could have been a Keeper. He was with Dyannis at the end.”

“I remember how they fell in love so many years ago,” Carolin murmured.

“During those last moments, I learned the truth about Eduin. Carlo, this is difficult for me to say, but he was indeed responsible for Felicia’s death, and very nearly for yours.”

“We were friends. He loved me, I’m sure of it.”

Varzil told Carolin who Eduin really was, how he had been shaped into an instrument of revenge, how at the last he had tried to undo the harm he had caused. He did not mention why the Deslucidos had been executed. Their secret must die with him, finally ending the cycle of retaliation.

Carolin looked thoughtful. “In a way, each of us was right about Eduin. He was both good and evil, and in the end, he chose the good. May the gods grant him peace.”

“So ends another era,” Varzil said.

They must look to the future now, to the new age taking shape around them. It was a heavy burden, to carry through what so many had perished for, but he would not have to do it alone. Carolin stood at his side. Everywhere, men and women of good will had joined together to end the menace of
laran
weaponry forever.

The ring on his right hand, with the white stone holding the imprint of Felicia’s mind, glowed softly. His heart lightened and he could almost feel her smile, her warmth, her enduring hope.

In a moment of clarity, he glimpsed circles dedicated to healing instead of death, women as well as men clothed in Keeper’s crimson, mighty kings meeting in Council instead of battle, poisoned lands growing green and fertile, children laughing beneath the great Red Sun.

Felicia would have rejoiced to see it, as would have Dyannis and all the others who had given their lives. He met Carolin’s steady gaze and knew that together, they would surely bring that vision into reality.